DECONSTRUCTING SYSTEMIC RACISM

KEY:

• All dates are based on the day that the case was decided or, for legislation, when the bill or act was made effective.
• Some cases will be referred to by the first name in the case (i.e. Williams v. Mississippi may be referred to as Williams).
• The citations are in endnote form, which are abbreviated versions of the sources used in this project. These citations can be found in parentheses.
• The sources in the bibliography are in Turabian form and can be found by pressing the “Bibliography” tab.
• In the judicial system, there are different courts levels:
          1. U.S. District Courts are the general trial courts.
                    a. Do not hear appeals.
          2. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
                    a. Hears cases where either party is dissatisfied with trial court’s decision.
          3. U.S. Supreme Court
                    a. Also an appellate court.
                    b. Only hears cases as last resort.
                              i. Thus, accepts very few cases per year, in comparison to the other levels.
• When the word “Court” is capitalized, it is referring to the Supreme Court
          o When it is lowercased, it is referring to lower level courts
          o The same goes for “Justices” of the Supreme Court versus “justices” of state courts
• Before 1960, Republicans were liberal and Democrats were considered the conservativeparty:
          o i.e. Southern Democrat’s opposed abolition and implemented anti-Black policies throughout the Jim Crow Era.
          o i.e. The Republican party led the fight for civil rights legislation during Reconstruction and fought against Jim Crow legislation in the South.
• A majority opinion is the conclusion made by over half of the Justices’
          o A concurring opinion is made by Justices who agree with the ultimate majority decision, but for different or additional reasons.
          o A minority, or dissenting, opinion, is made by Justices who express disagreement with the majority.
• Cases listed as “Landmark” tend to deal with unprecedented circumstances or they overturn Supreme Court precedent.
          o i.e. Brown v. Board of Education overruled the notion of “separate but equal” that was established in Plessy v. Ferguson.